Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Trading Liberty for Security

An update to Friday's post: this editorial summarizes the position of the Emperor again for the comatose public. Predictably, not a whimper of protest has been heard. Chaos must conclude that the apathetic people of the Empire desire to lose their civil liberties, or are so indifferent and obtuse as not to care. A more diffuse explanation would be that this is to be expected in a complex society growing ever more complex. As Tainter notes, such societies cannot overcome complexity indefinitely and become at risk for collapse. Perhaps this very phenomenon is happening at the present moment. Students of entropy take note.